5 March 2021 – Ana Custódio
This Wednesday, a Webinar was held under the theme “European Funds: A unique opportunity for Portugal.” Accenture Portugal organised the event in a partnership with the newspaper Eco.
Senior representatives of government entities with direct influence on the management of EU funds, including Nélson de Souza, Minister of Planning and Community Funds and Alexandra Leitão, Minister of State Modernization and Public Administration, took part in the event. The two were joined by a group of leaders of the leading national companies to debate the current situation and reflect on the recovery of the Portuguese economy.
Last year will go down in history due to the Covid-19 pandemic. In 2021, the European Union funds are seeking to relaunch the economy. They are seen as an excellent opportunity to address Portugal’s current economic context and boost the business world’s future.
Europe is now preparing for the coming decade, which will be full of new challenges and unique opportunities. In this context, resilience, digital transformation and climate transformation were some of the issues discussed. Portugal’s Recovery and Resilience Plan (RRP), whose public consultation period has already ended, is a commitment that the Portuguese federal government intends to work on during this atypical phase.
Nélson de Souza, Minister of Planning and Community Funds, pointed out that the RRP corresponds to “14 billion euros in subsidies,” to which “2.7 billion euros are added in loans, and, according to … the European Commission, 57% of that amount must be allocated to the areas of climate transition and digital transformation.”
The minister, who spoke several times about the need for digitalisation and innovation, also added that “In the RRP, … we have to focus on what is important, on well-targeted support for Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) … in terms of performance, on digitalisation and climate and energy transition within companies. We want to act on the mobilising agendas for industrialisation. Focus on the areas of scientific and technological potential accumulated in the country, and that already have the conditions to be transformed into the supply of exportable and tradable goods and services. The goal is to change the profile of industrialisation.”
Alexandra Leitão, Minister of State Modernisation and Public Administration, pointed out that a digital platform is being created between AD&C (Agency for Development and Cohesion) and AMA (Agency for Administrative Modernisation), to be consulted with all the RRP planning, the new Transparency Portal.
The minister pointed out that within the scope of the digital transition, there should be an improvement in the public services that should be available completely online and in a single interface, through the future “Virtual Citizen Store”, to make Portugal’s public administration more agile, removing legal obstacles and allowing for a reduction in costs. The Minister of State Modernisation and Public Administration also stressed the importance of cybersecurity in this context.
Ms Leitão spoke of the need to “Empower the Public Administration, in partnership with Higher Education institutions, to attract young, qualified technicians, enabling greater flexibility, the rejuvenation of the Public Administration and leveraging “advanced” digital empowerment and simultaneously fighting info-exclusion”.
Translation: Richard Turner
